Amazon Arlington contract leaves room for more jobs

Amazon’s withdrawal from plans to move half of its HQ2 operation to Queens has many in the DMV wondering how that will impact us.

Amazon’s withdrawal from plans to move half of its HQ2 operation to Queens has many in the DMV wondering how that will impact us.

ARLINGTON, Va. (FOX 5 DC) - Amazon’s withdrawal from plans to move half of its HQ2 operation to Queens, NY has many in the DMV wondering if those jobs are moving to our area.

Amazon immediately announced that the development in New York would not affect the company’s plan to move its HQ2 into Arlington.

However, a closer look at the fine print shows the online retails giant does have the ability to add roughly 50 percent more jobs to its Northern Virginia operation.

According to the Memorandum of Understanding, Amazon can add 12,850 positions to the 25,000 it has already promised over the coming decade, bringing the total number of possible jobs in Northern Virginia to 37,850.

The additional 12,850 are intended to be added after the first phase, however, could potentially come sooner.

“Right now the timing that they have presented to us is something that we know we can accommodate very well. If that accelerates or they have a desire to accelerate, we’ll have to evaluate it just like we do anything else to make sure the necessary infrastructure is in place to accommodate it,” said Arlington County Board Chairman Christian Dorsey.

If the additional jobs are added sooner than laid out in the Memorandum of Understanding, Dorsey says the county’s incentives would remain unchanged.

Virginia, however, may have to pony up even more than the $500 to $750 million already promised to the tech giant.

Dorsey says the county is prepared from an infrastructure perspective, but housing is another story.

He says Arlington will be closely watching the initial stages to see if that faster growth may be a possibility.

“There is the possibility that if it aligns with our plans and if the state is committed to supporting those necessary infrastructure investments, there is a path to doing it, the higher number in a shorter amount of time, but by no means is it guaranteed,” Dorsey said.